The completely private transfer of data between authorized parties in security sensitive-environments—such as defense and military contexts, but also many other corporate and government contexts as well—is often critical to effective organizational operations and security.
“Data” or “written documents” as understood herein may be broadly understood to include not only prose documents but also databases, spreadsheets, and other structured data. Such documents may pertain to many areas, including: policy data, organizational planning and strategy, organizational history, budgets and other financial information, sensitive information on competitors or enemies (or even on allies and partners), personnel data, technical device parameters and data, information about equipment design or usage, electronic or mechanical system maintenance records, organizational resource storage and allocation data, and much other information. The exposure of such documents and their data to unauthorized third-parties can cause significant or serious harm to many organizations.
Disadvantages of Conventional Data Transfer: With reference to FIG. 1, it is well-known that conventional network connections 170/190 between computers are subject to a variety of potential security threats, which may allow unauthorized users to have inappropriate access to stored data or even to modify the use and operations of a computer system. Threats to computer networks include direct wiretapping (intercepting the flow of data over wired connections), port scans, idle scans, denial of service attacks, DNS spoofing, man-in-the-middle attacks, phishing, the use of computer viruses to infect and control a computer system, and many others as well.
Most such attacks are dependent, directly or indirectly, on the existence of a direct data connection between two computer systems or networks. Such connections are often of the forms of exemplary conventional data transfer paths 170, such as radio frequency (RF) or microwave wireless connections 170.1, infrared wireless connections (not illustrated in the figures), wired connections 170.2 (such as USB cables or Ethernet cables), optical-fiber cable connections (not illustrated in the figures), cloud connections 170.3; and also in the form of data transfer media 190. For purposes of this document, both optical-fiber connections and infrared connections will be understood to be subsumed under conventional data transfer paths 170.
Most such generalized connections (RF/microwave 170.1, wired 170.2, cloud 170.3, optical-fiber, and infrared) provide a generalized path for distribution of data or data packets with multiple types of content and from multiple sources. That is, any data which conforms to suitable protocols (for example, TCP/IP) can be carried over such conventional data transfer paths 170, and the data can potentially come from many different sources (for example, any computer with access to the data transfer path 170).
Various security measures, well known in the art, are employed to ensure computer security. These include password protection schemes, biometric user verification, “real person” authentication schemes (for example, CAPTCHA and other challenge-response tests used to distinguish human users from automated “users”), and other authentication schemes. Firewalls are used to control access to specific services and ports. Encryption is employed to ensure that even if data is intercepted, the data can only be de-encrypted and used by authorized users with access to appropriate digital security keys. Other security measures may be employed as well.
Nonetheless, conventional data transfer paths 170 are often essentially open data highways (at least at the physical level); for example, anyone with adequate hardware can monitor and broadcast over radio waves and generally over cloud media), which can potentially be accessed by multiple users, including malevolent users.
Data transfer media 190, such as disk drives, DVDs, and flash drives, provide an advantage in that the access to the devices can be physically controlled, during data loading (when the media 190 is physically attached to a source computer); and also during data transport (physical carrying from one computer system to another). Nonetheless, unwanted, data-threatening files and unauthorized computer code (such as viruses) can still be inadvertently introduced onto such transfer media 190.
Manual data transfer: Another method (not illustrated) to securely transfer data between two computer systems entails manual data reading and data entry by clerical personnel. Two computer systems, ‘A’ and ‘B’, may be employed, where A and B are not connected by any conventional data transfer routes 170 (and where the use of data transfer media 190 is also excluded).
Instead, data from first computer system A can be printed onto hardcopy and read by clerical personnel; or the data can be displayed on a display of computer system A, and again read by clerical personnel. The clerical personnel can then manually enter the data into second computer system B, by displaying suitable data entry screens, and using a keyboard or other input means (such as a mouse) which is part of computer system B.
Manual data transfer may be much more secure than conventional data transfer via conventional connections 170, or via transfer media 190, but has at least three disadvantages: (1) It is expensive because it is labor intensive; (2) It is slow, due to the limits of human perceptions and typing speeds; and (3) It is prone to error due to human typing errors and fatigue.
Two computer systems may be considered mutually “data-isolated” or “proprietary” if they are not being connected by any conventional data transfer means 170, and no data is transferred between them via data transfer media 190. What is needed then is a system and method for high-speed, automated, highly reliable, and secure transfer of specifically selected data between two data-isolated computers, or between two data-isolated computer systems, so that: (i) the system and method reduces or renders impossible the security threats of conventional data transfer technologies 170, 190; and (ii) the system and method constrains data transfer to specifically designated data or documents only.